Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

While I’ll be sitting down with my family today to enjoy some quality time and an awesome vegan meal (which I promise you’ll be hearing much more about in the coming days!), I can’t forget that today also marks the sad demise of millions of turkeys in this country – and that many millions more will lose their lives to mark American Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season in general.

This year we decided to adopt a turkey. No, we don’t have a turkey waddling around the living room – although that would be very cool.

Farm Sanctuary, some of the best people around, are running an Adopt-A-Turkey Project. For $25 you can sponsor a turkey and help support all the great work that Farm Sanctuary undertakes to benefit the lives of farm animals everywhere. Farm Sanctuary will mail you an adoption certificate, a photo and a little history about your turkey. Every little bit helps Farm Sanctuary and helps the animals.

Please consider adopting your own turkey and suggest the idea to others too.

That’s Olive the turkey, in the photo – I felt immediately drawn to her. She lives at Farm Sanctuary’s California shelter.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone – spread a little love this holiday season.

Photo: Farm Sanctuary

Upon looking in my inbox last night I was greeted with a welcome email from Farm Sanctuary.  The letter was written by Gene Baur, President and co-founder of this amazing organization. Gene wrote a best-selling book not too long ago entitled, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food. In the email Gene outlines that, in celebration of the book’s release in paperback, he is giving everyone the opportunity to get his book in e-book format for FREE.

Now I just read the email last night (Saturday) and the email, sent on Friday, states that the free offer is only good for one day – but I was still able to download the book for free last night and so I wanted to share the info with you in case the offer has been extended for a bit. It’s a great chance to read a great book, and a wonderful tool to share with others.

The email Gene sent is below with all the necessary links intact – good luck and enjoy!

This week we have witnessed a momentous victory for farm animals in the passage of Prop 2 in California , and YOU had everything to do with it!  More than 6.2 million people in the state voted YES on Prop 2. These people believed that farm animals deserve consideration and they voted their conscience.  If it weren’t for your support, Farm Sanctuary would not have been able to spread the word about the ongoing cruelties that farm animals suffer at the hands of an industry that has resisted any meaningful change for animals. This is a victory not only for animals, but it’s a victory for YOU. Your ongoing support has made all the difference for farm animals.

I’m writing you today to keep that momentum going! Many of you know that I wrote a book that was released earlier this year, entitled Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food. I wrote this book to be used as a tool for animal advocates, as it’s a great way to educate people about farm animal issues. I’ve spent a good portion of this year traveling to cities throughout the U.S. talking with people about how Farm Sanctuary came to be and why we work tirelessly on behalf of the animals we know and love.

I’m happy to report that this week, Farm Sanctuary was released in paperback and can be ordered online or found at a bookstore near you.

And, TODAY ONLY, you can also download Farm Sanctuary for free!  Please celebrate the paperback release with me by downloading the eBook at http://www.ebookstore.sony.com/. You can read the book without a Sony Reader; just download the reader software to your computer and you can read it there. More downloads mean more attention to farm animal issues!

Thank you for all you do for the animals and please join me as we keep this momentum going and educate millions more about the plight of farm animals!

Yours in compassion,
Gene Baur

President and Co-Founder
Farm Sanctuary

P.S. As always, 100 percent of the author’s proceeds will be donated to Farm Sanctuary . For reviews, book tour information, an overview of the book, my blog, and more… visit genebaur.org.

Way back, all the way back to the beginning, there was a challenge. Guess what. I won (blush). My prized t-shirt arrived not too long ago. Thanks Jason – you are an inspiration.

Jason once described this shirt as his favourite veg garment during one of the always informative and witty TVPs (Toronto Vegetarian Podcast) and has now bestowed one upon me.

You can get your own here.

It reminds me of a funny and poignant blog post (at the fabulous veg blog Walking the Vegan Line) about a Texas bumper sticker – see the photo.

Recognition is sweet. Thanks again Jason.

We expose ourselves to so many chemical nasties on a daily basis, whether it be in the food we eat, the water we drink or the air we breathe. We have created a toxic environment for ourselves.

The very least we can do is not compound the problem by slathering more chemical goo onto our fragile bodies. I’ve been making a gradual toiletry switch as I go through my bathroom shelves – out with the harsh chemical old and in with the safer, natural, cruelty-free organic new.

In the spirit of sharing I wanted to tell you about one of my new favourite product lines, Nature’s Gate Organics.

Nature’s Gate uses all natural herbs and botanicals in the creation of their extensive line of pH-balanced products. The company is as dedicated to being environmentally friendly and cruelty-free as it is to bringing the public a selection of quality, pure, natural, organic products.

Their handsome bottles have taken up residence in many of my shelves, from shampoo to lotions, but my favourite thing of all has to be that indispensable item I use on a daily basis, deodorant. It contains certified organic botanicals and is free of the parabens, propylene glycol, and aluminum chlorohydrate that plague commercial deodorants and put our health needlessly at risk.

It is also produced without animal testing, with no animal byproducts, and is certified vegan. It comes in several pleasing scents – my favourite is the Chamomile & Lemon Verbena.

And it’s effective. I smell great.

The sugar saga continues. See my original post regarding the use of bone char in the Canadian sugar industry for the backstory.

The Canadian Sugar Institute addressed my enquiry about their website content today.

This is what they wrote:

Thank you for contacting the Canadian Sugar Institute with your comments regarding an inaccurate statement on our website. While it is true that resins are now the most widely used filtering agent for sugar cane refining in Canada, you are correct that Rogers Sugar does in fact use bone char (an animal product) in its Vancouver refinery as part of the filtering process. Redpath Sugar and Lantic Sugar do not use bone char.

The accuracy of the information given to the public is taken very seriously at the Canadian Sugar Institute. Please be assured that this misinformation was an oversight on our part and that it was not our intent to mislead the public on this issue. We intend to clarify this issue by correcting the information on the website as quickly as possible.

It is important to note as well that while bone char can be used in the filtering process of sugar cane, sugar is a natural plant product and no residues from bone char will remain in the final purified sugar. There is no animal material present in the sugar that we consume.

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

I’m very pleased with their response – bravo to them for taking the steps to correct their mistake.

The information they provided in their response regarding Lantic’s non-bone char status conflicts with Lantic’s website (which indicates that they DO use bone char). This may be due to the fact that Rogers now owns Lantic and the Lantic site is merely a reflection of the Rogers site (Rogers USES bone char). On closer inspection of the Rogers and Lantic sites one can see that their FAQ sections are in fact identical (including question #5 which makes reference to the use of bone char).

I believe that The Canadian Sugar Institute is being truthful in their response to me despite what Lantic’s site is saying about itself. This would indicate that Lantic is bone char free along with Redpath.

So yay for Redpath and Lantic and boo on Rogers.

With awareness of global warming on the rise, an interesting bit of information is unfolding along with it – meat consumption, along with egg and dairy, is the primary cause.

Animal agriculture affects climate change and air pollution more than any other single source. In fact, according to the United Nation’s massive report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, eliminating animal products from our diet would have a bigger impact on global warming than taking every single plane, train and automobile off the road, hummers and all. In short, the best and most immediate way for us to reduce the emissions that cause global warming is for people to adopt a vegan diet.

With billions of farm animals raised on factory farms annually, and billions upon billions of pounds of feed being produced to feed them, the impact on the planet is severe. Animal agriculture plays a significant role in climate change and air pollution, water depletion and pollution, and has a significant impact on biodiversity.

According to the United Nation’s report, animal agriculture has the following impact on air pollution:

• the CO2 equivalent of the livestock industry’s current contribution to climate change is 18%
• currently accounts for 9% of Carbon Dioxide emissions, and climbing.
• currently accounts for 35-40% of Methane emissions
• currently accounts for 65% of Nitreous Oxide emissions
• currently accounts for 64% of Ammonia emissions

Animal agriculture, including the meat, egg, and dairy industries, also has a significant impact on water depletion and pollution. This sector currently exceeds 8% of total global water use. This is a significant figure, especially in light of the increasing scarcity of fresh water in many places in the world, California for example.

Additionally, animal agriculture significantly impacts biodiversity through its direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, water pollution, deforestation, and overfishing. Consider that 26% of the terrestrial surface is used for grazing, up to 70% of which is already considered degraded, and 33% of arable land is used for feed-crop cultivation.

In the meantime the world is entering a food crisis. The cost of food for human consumption is on the rise because increasing demand for grains, corn needed for ethanol production for example, is exceeding supply. The human population is growing, along with its appetite for meat. There is simply not enough to go around. It is now costing farmers more to feed the farm animals than they are receiving for the meat in return. The livestock industry is not a sustainable one. If consumers don’t start to change their thinking and move away from heavy meat consumption, the Earth’s resources will simply be used up.

The status quo cannot be maintained, whether people like it or not.

People are becoming more aware every day of the power they have as individuals to make a difference. They recycle and compost, they choose to use reusable cloth bags over plastic, they conserve water and install energy-efficient light bulbs. More and more people are opting to use public transit or more fuel efficient cars. Many are choosing to buy local or organic produce and eschewing the use of pesticides and chemicals. As much as all of these things help, nothing has as big of a positive environmental impact as choosing to adopt a vegan (best) or vegetarian (better) diet.

You can start with small steps. Commit to just one vegan day a week or even just one meal to start with. If everyone committed to having just one vegan or vegetarian meal per week, that alone would have a huge impact. According to an estimation by Environemental Defense Fund, if every American ate one meat-free meal per week that would be the equivalent of taking 5 million cars of the road – and if that same group went meat-free for one week, that would be the same as eliminating 8 million cars.

It’s such an attainable solution to a very serious problem. In addition to the multitude of wonderful vegan cookbooks out there, their are countless free resources on the internet. Check out some of the spectacular vegan food blogs out there – there are many wonderful ones in the Blogroll on this site, and countless others. Have fun with it – see the diversity of food available to you. I never ate such a diverse and healthy diet as I did once I made the decision to go vegan.

We can make a difference.

Happy Earth Day!

I danced a little jig over the PeaceKeeper Eco-Sensual Balm I picked up on a recent happy trip to the new organic supermarket in town. While perusing their ample array of cosmetics I also scored a nice little item from the nail section made by a company that is new to me, No Miss Nail Polish.

No Miss nail polishes include quite an assortment of colours and finishes – so many lovely shiny things. The range of choice was reflected by the inordinate amount of time I spent standing in front of their display trying to choose one. I finally settled on Panama Petal, a perfect translucent pink for that barely there but well groomed look. It wears very well too – no chips almost one week later.

No Miss nail polishes do not contain harmful formaldehyde, toluene, or dibutyl-pthalate and contain UV filters to protect your nails from the damaging and drying effects of the sun.

Check out the availability of No Miss nail care products at your cosmetics-carrying local health food store or check them out online at Alternative Outfitters and The Vegan Store.

Cruelty-free. Colours to suit every mood and personality. A healthy approach to nail polish. Long-wearing. Reasonably priced. All things considered there’s no reason not to go cruelty-free with your nail polish.

UPDATE: In my previous post I reported on the use of bone char in the Canadian sugar industry. In that post I shared information regarding the big three sugar companies in Canada. At the time of that writing I had received confirmation that two of the three, Rogers Sugar and Lantic Sugar, currently use bone char in their refining process.

I’m very happy to report that Toronto based Redpath Sugar responded to my enquiry with excellent news – they do NOT use bone char in their refining process, opting instead to use more modern methods.

I’ll be buying Redpath.

Still no word from the Canadian Sugar Institute regarding the egregious error on their site.

I’m not usually the pugnacious sort, except in instances where I perceive an ethical wrong. I certainly felt a strong spur to dole out some objurgation this time round.

Not too long ago I wrote about my own personal discovery of the use of bone char in the sugar industry. After that enlightenment I switched to the Wholesome Sweeteners line of sugars which is certified vegan, organic and bone char free. That said, I was curious about the vegan status of sugar in Canada so I decided to do some research into the Canadian sugar industry and see what the deal was with the use of bone char here.

There are three main Canadian sugar companies: Rogers, Lantic (owned by Rogers), and Redpath.

I started with Rogers Sugar first. I also wrote to the Toronto Vegetarian Association, knowing them to be ever knowledgeable and helpful. In a simple internet search I came up with abundant information that indicated Rogers Sugar used bone char in its cane sugar refinery in Vancouver, British Columbia. Rogers also operates a beet sugar refinery in Taber, Alberta. It is my understanding that beet sugar does not require carbon filtration in its refining and thus bone char is not an issue with beet sugar. In my enquiry to Rogers I also enquired about the availability of the Taber beet sugar in the Toronto market.

I also came across a site that purports to be the authority on the sugar industry in Canada, The Canadian Sugar Institute. I visited their contact page and dropped them a line, asking if they could identify for me any Canadian sugar companies that did not use bone char.

Soon the responses to some of my enquiries started coming in.

First up, Rogers Sugar. The Rogers rep informed me that the Taber beet sugar was regretfully not available to the Toronto market and was sold only in Western Canada. He did happily tell me, however, that the Lantic cane sugar refinery in Montreal (owned by Rogers) did not employ the use of bone char and was available in Toronto. Happy Times, right? Not quite.

Next up, I received a series of communications from the Toronto Vegetarian Association. They had made enquiries on my behalf to each of the big three. Additionally, they provided me with information that confirmed not only that Rogers used bone char, but Lantic used it as well. Either the Rogers rep is misinformed or Lantic’s own website (where the information is clearly laid out in black and white) is inaccurate. The fun didn’t stop there.

I decided to take a closer look at the many-layered Canadian Sugar Institute site. Lo and behold, buried deep in a Q & A section I happened upon a startling bit of misinformation.

In the section titled Nutritional Information Service, subsection, From Field to Table, sub-subsection Sugar Production, there is a question and answer that appears as follows (emphasis mine):

Are animal products used in the sugar filtering process?
No. All sugar sold in Canada must be purified through a series of steps, including filtering, before it is packaged and distributed. Beet sugar is filtered through diatomaceous earth; whereas resins are used in cane sugar refining; both of which are not of animal origin.

Excuse me? did I just read an emphatic answer of no to the question of whether animal products are used in the sugar filtering process in Canada? Since when is bone char, made from the crushed bones of cows, not of animal origin? Knowing their statement to be an absolute falsehood I wrote to The Canadian Sugar Institute to let them know about their error. We’ve already found evidence indicating that two of the big three Canadian sugar companies use bone char – this is certain (as of this writing I cannot attest to the bone char status of the third company, Redpath, but will update when I confirm). Just sloppiness?

People look to entities such as The Canadian Sugar Institute as an authority on the subject and here they are presenting false information. Indeed, when I visited the Redpath sugar site, at the bottom of their Sugar FAQ section they encourage visitors seeking more information to visit The Canadian Sugar Institute site. Point made.

As of this writing I have received no response from the Canadian Sugar Institute and their site stands as it was.

April 21 – Update: I’m very happy to report that Toronto based Redpath Sugar responded to my enquiry with excellent news – they do NOT use bone char in their refining process, opting instead to use more modern methods.

April 24 – Update: The Canadian Sugar Institute addressed my enquiry about their website content today. This is what they wrote:

Thank you for contacting the Canadian Sugar Institute with your comments regarding an inaccurate statement on our website. While it is true that resins are now the most widely used filtering agent for sugar cane refining in Canada, you are correct that Rogers Sugar does in fact use bone char (an animal product) in its Vancouver refinery as part of the filtering process. Redpath Sugar and Lantic Sugar do not use bone char.

The accuracy of the information given to the public is taken very seriously at the Canadian Sugar Institute. Please be assured that this misinformation was an oversight on our part and that it was not our intent to mislead the public on this issue. We intend to clarify this issue by correcting the information on the website as quickly as possible.

It is important to note as well that while bone char can be used in the filtering process of sugar cane, sugar is a natural plant product and no residues from bone char will remain in the final purified sugar. There is no animal material present in the sugar that we consume.

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

I’m very pleased with their response – bravo to them for taking the steps to correct their mistake.

The information they provided in their response regarding Lantic’s non-bone char status conflicts with Lantic’s website (which indicates that they DO use bone char). This may be due to the fact that Rogers now owns Lantic and the Lantic site is merely a reflection of the Rogers site (Rogers USES bone char). On closer inspection of the Rogers and Lantic sites one can see that their FAQ sections are in fact identical (including question #5 which makes reference to the use of bone char).

I believe that The Canadian Sugar Institute is being truthful in their response to me despite what Lantic’s site is saying about itself. This would indicate that Lantic is bone char free along with Redpath.

So yay for Redpath and Lantic and boo on Rogers.

It makes my heart glad to see how much easier it has become to make cruelty-free choices, and makeup is no exception. Not too long ago I wrote about EcoTools, a cruelty-free line of makeup brushes (brushes used to be particularly difficult to find in a cruelty-free variety). Today I share my latest find from a recent trip to the new neighborhood organic superstore.

PeaceKeeper’s Eco-Sensual Balm, for lips.

PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics is, according to their bio, the first cosmetic line to give all of its after tax distributable profits to women’s health advocacy & human rights issues. They support animals, fair labour and all things natural, and eschew chemicals and slave labour.

PeaceKeeper makes a wide assortment of nail polish, lipstick, lip gloss and, of course, the lip balm. None of the products are tested on animals. Some of the makeup contains Carmine, so vegans beware – all vegan (Carmine-free) products are marked with a ‘V’ – as the lip balm is.

The natural mineral based nail polishes are particularly nice and, according to their site, rated one of the safest paint-based nail polishes around the world. They are also free of harmful chemical nasties such as formaldehyde, toluene, and acetone, and have no FD&C colors, parabens, or phthalates. The French Manicure Kit is particularly sweet and is entirely vegan. It includes: Nail Renewal Oil, Paint Me Eternal Top/Bottom Coat (clear), Paint Me Tranquil (soft, subtle translucent pink), and Paint Me Tender (the requisite opaque white), and French manicure tape for foolproof tip application. The oil and each of the polishes also come separately.

The Nail Renewal Oil is an absolute delight. Made with sweet almond oil, ginseng root extract, myrrha extract, and vitamin E, your cuticles and nails will reward you for using it by looking their smooth revitalized best, making it an absolute must have for my makeup shelf – and it smells awesome too. A little aromatherapy can’t hurt.

But I digress. Eco-Sensual Balm goes on clear and moisturizes your lips with all-natural, 100% vegan, 73% organic ingredients. I stress the goes on clear aspect for all the men who, like my husband, would sooner let their lips fry than apply a lip balm with even the most minuscule amount of colour. The lip balm contains the following ingredients: organic palm oil, organic virgin olive oil, candelilla wax, organic jojoba oil, organic coconut oil, essential oil of spearmint, tocopherol (vitamin E), grapeseed oil, rosemary extract, and vitamin C.

Your lips are left feeling soft, smooth and minty. I’m a firm believer that all lip balms should be minty – personally, I don’t think anything soothes as much as the cooling sensation of mint on the lips, particularly in summer.

It’s nice to see another new company making an effort to operate with ethics and in the spirit of philanthropy to bring us cruelty-free, organic, natural products, many of which are entirely vegan.

It does make my heart glad.

The side of my Eco-Sensual balm reads, ‘Deep healing for your lips and the world.’ Agreed.